For those who don’t know, ISAS—Independent Schools Association of the Southwest—makes “accreditation visits” to many schools in the Southwestern portion of the USA. An accreditation visit, according to the ISAS website, “assesses the accuracy of the school’s Self Study, evaluates the effectiveness of the school’s programs, measures the concurrence of the school’s programs with its stated mission, and makes recommendations to assist the school in continued improvement.” In other words, they come and tell schools how they are doing, and how they could improve.
In a visit to Cistercian, ISAS told Cistercian that it needed more of a focus on the Arts. The leadership at Cistercian then required that all students starting in the Class of 2027 and younger must earn four semesters worth of high school art electives (totalling one credit hour). Furthermore, all freshmen are forced to take electives relating to art, and without other forms.
The Class of ‘27 was, understandably, initially upset at no longer having the freedom to pick electives like the previous forms had done. As one student said, “The art electives hindered me from taking the Mr. Laurange elective that I truly wanted to do.”
These new requirements were well intentioned but counterproductive. Cistercian has had too great a focus on STEM for years. The school needed an artistic Renaissance. But restricting students’ other interests ended up creating a distaste, instead of a love, for the arts. It felt like buying a salad at McDonalds, in that you’re trying to be something you’re not, and end up making yourself miserable. If a student’s academic interest is in Finance or business, forcing them to take an arts elective for 1/3 of high school electives means they not only lose opportunities to develop their unique gifts, but may also come to resent the arts.
Another reason for frustration amongst students was the fact that the new arts requirements compelled students to take electives with only their form. For years at Cistercian, freshmen developed relationships with other forms early on, and learned from them how to approach the challenges of high school. One of the main places where freshmen experienced relationship building and learning with other forms was in electives. When Cistercian changed the requirements, it became more difficult for freshmen to develop relationships between forms.
The final reason for the unpopularity of the new requirements was the limited options. Some class of 2027 students had only three electives options to rank. While some of these electives were informative and fun (Film with Fr. Augustine for example), others were much less popular. Out of all the students in one particular arts elective, only ONE had put it as his first or second choice. Everyone else put it as their last choice, or did not even list it as an option. This understandably made the students disinterested in the course, which meant everyone felt like they were wasting the 50 minute elective period. For all these reasons and more, the new arts requirements were almost universally disliked by students.
Mrs. Magill said in a recent video on The Cistercian Youtube channel, “The arts are really experiencing a rebirth here at Cistercian.” But with all due respect, instead of renewed love for the arts, my classmates and I seemed to develop resentment of or apathy towards the arts. After Cistercian made clear these requirements were staying, students began searching for a way out of it. Three sophomores and some freshmen, including myself, found a way, namely trough Cistercian summer camps. Taking the two-week Ceramics course counted for one whole semester of the art credit requirement. Not only was the art credit a nice bonus, but also learning a fun, more physical skill from Fr. Raphael was extremely enjoyable. This summer course did seem to remedy some of the issues of the initial arts requirement.
So, since Cistercian is not likely to reverse the arts requirement, are there additional solutions that will help students learn to love the arts and thereby grow in their love for beauty? Here is a 4 point plan the school could enact:
- Encourage the arts from a younger age through opportunities, not requirements.
- Stop offering unpopular options which only one or two students want to take.
- Offer additional courses that would be popular, and would truly contribute to students’ love of the arts. Examples might be Art History with Fr. Gregory, Art and Music with Mr. Saliga, or even something like Architecture or Music Theory with a willing and able teacher.
- Allow more opportunities outside of school to earn arts credits, like the summer Ceramics course.
